Worship
Service for December 10, 2023
Prelude
Announcements:
Call to Worship
L: In the middle of dark times, our Lord
cries out:
P: “Comfort, comfort my people!”
L: When it seems as though we cannot see the
light at the end of the tunnel,
P: Our Lord says to us, “Be at peace, for
your time of difficulty has ended.”
L: Lord, we await the time of comfort and
peace!
P: Lord, we are thankful for Your compassion
and never-failing love for us. AMEN!
Lighting of the Advent Candles
L: Hope is assertive, but peace is
subversive. The psalmist reminds us in
Psalm 34:14 that we must seek peace and pursue it. We must search for it like a treasure hidden
in a field, like it is the most precious, fragile thing we can imagine. But peace doesn’t live only in dreams. Peace whispers into our ear that there is
always another way, another path from rage and hate and fear. Peace calls us to have patience, but to not
give up. Peace is not passive, but
always lurking, just waiting for us to recognize that we can grasp it. We light this candle as a reminder that peace
is something we must pursue, for we follow the Prince of Peace.
Join me in praying:
God of Peace, our world
is full of angry voices calling for vengeance, calling for retribution masked
as justice, calling for destruction as a lie for peace. But we know the true peace that comes from
You is available for us all, if we seek it.
If we follow You. May peace light
our way in this world that desperately needs it. AMEN.
Opening Hymn – Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee #464 Blue
Prayer of Confession
In the dark depths of our fear
and anguish, You, O Lord, reach out to us.
We need Your guidance this day, for we have found it far too easy to
stray into selfish pathways. We seek
first our own comfort; we gather our toys and trinkets and proclaim that all is
right with the world, yet our hearts feel strangely discomforted. Guide us and gather us, Lord. Teach us again to be people of peace and
hope. Help us cast off the mantle of
greed and hatred. Forgive us for the
many times when we have ignored the cries of those in need; when we have turned
our backs on opportunities to help others.
Forgive us, Lord. Touch our
hearts and bring Your bright light of salvation to them that we might turn
again to You. Help us again hear the
voice of one who cries in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our
God.” In the name of Jesus Christ, our
Savior, we offer this prayer. (Silent
prayers are offered) AMEN.
Assurance of Pardon
L: God’s forgiving love has been poured upon
each one of us. Hear the good news!
P: We are healed and forgiven. Thanks be to God. AMEN!
Gloria Patri
Affirmation of Faith/Apostles’
Creed
I believe in God the Father
Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under
Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the
third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge
the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost,
the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins; the
resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN
Pastoral Prayer and Lord’s
Prayer
God of winter and
starlight, You have promised us Your presence: to live among us, to right all
wrongs, to bring good things to all who wait for Your new day. In these days of waiting, we look for signs
of Your coming: the sounds of children at play, the music that fills our hearts
with anticipation, the company of all who serve the last and the least. Make us at home with righteousness, that we
may be ready to walk in Your holy ways.
God of Advent waiting and watching; hopeful and full of
love, we have come to You this day with hearts that are heavy, with concerns
for family and friends; for world situations; for struggles at home, in our community,
state, and nation. We sometimes feel
powerless to affect any changes. So, we
withdraw into ourselves, quick to criticize and slow to change our own
behavior. You remind us that there is
one who will bring messages of peace and love, joy and hope. He will help us to become faithful disciples
and servants. But we have much work to
do. Our preparation needs to focus on
our own attitudes and our own actions. We
need to focus more on Your absolute love and forgiveness. And then, as we turn our lives to You,
offering names and situations in prayers for Your healing mercies, help us to
remember that our own healing is also vital, that our own healing is necessary,
that our own healing helps heal others. Enable
us to be strong and confident workers for You in this world.
Holy Lord, heal our hearts, heal our wounds, and heal our
souls.
We thank You for all that You’ve done for us in the
past. Hear our heartfelt pleas for those
we love….We remember….
And now in this moment of silence, hear our unspoken
prayers.
Gracious God, we thank
You for this day, for one another, and for our opportunities to worship You as
we prayer together saying…Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy
name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give
us this day our daily bread. Forgive us
our debts as we forgive our debtors. And
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and
the glory, forever. AMEN.
Hymn – Break
Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light #264
Brown
Scripture Reading(s):
First Scripture Reading – Isaiah
40:1-11
Second Scripture Reading – Mark
1:1-8
Sermon – “A Voice in the Wilderness”
A Voice in the
Wilderness
(based on Isaiah 40:1-11, Mark 1:1-8)
The very first line in Isaiah chapter 40 says, “Comfort, comfort
my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.” But John comes along 800 years later, quoting
the very next verse, that he is the voice of one crying in the wilderness. But John calls the religious leaders hypocrites,
he rants and yells for people to turn away from their sins and to be baptized,
and he calls most of those in Jerusalem a brood of vipers. None of that sounds very comforting, nor does
it sound tender. Isaiah might have
expected it, but the John who quotes this passage, the John of tradition, the
John who dressed in camel's hair and ate a weird diet, did anything but speak
tenderly. Here in this tender season of
preparation, John seems harsh and discordant. But the voice of the prophet, Isaiah, is less
confrontational and more comforting, helping to prepare our hearts and the way
of the Lord. Each had an agenda. John’s agenda was immediate – the Messiah was
there in their midst and they needed to know it. That God’s plan of a savior was materializing
in their presence. They all needed to
hear how they should be turning their lives around and following the way of the
Lord. Isaiah’s agenda was more
long-term, he knew that the time of waiting would stretch out for many years
and He wanted the people to know that God was still God, comforting them in
their sorrows, healing their pain, tenderly soothing their wounds of loneliness
and fear in the deep darkness of waiting.
So, for our advent worship this season, I think we need to hear
the comforting words of Isaiah rather than the raving assault of John. This is the long season of waiting. A season that seems to stretch on into eternity. We don’t need to be yelled at. I think we need comfort. And God does comfort us.
Dr. Barry Bailey, pastor of First United Methodist Church in
Fort Worth, Texas, was asked to hold the funeral for rock guitarist Stevie Ray
Vaughan. Part of the tragedy was that
life for Stevie Ray Vaughan had just turned good. He had been clean and sober for the last
couple of years, and his career was on the rise. He had just finished an album with his
brother.
Bailey says the most moving part of the service was when Stevie
Wonder, Bonnie Raitt, and Jackson Browne asked if they could sing a special
song at the conclusion. It was impromptu
and a cappella. They chose to sing
"Amazing Grace." Imagine,
there was Stevie Wonder, a man born blind, singing, "I once was lost, but
now am found; was blind, but now I see." Those are words of faith, hope,
grace, and resurrection. They sang of
and found comfort and hope through the gift of God's presence. Why? Because
God brings comfort to God's people.
God's comfort comes as God is revealed in Christ and who Christ
was in all that he did and meant to people who walked with him on the streets
of Jerusalem. John may have been the one
voice that cried in the wilderness – shouting for people to hear, but it was
Christ who comforted the people.
I’m not a big country song fan, but I do like a few country
singers and one of them is Garth Brooks.
His song, "I've Got Friends in Low Places" could have been the
words of Jesus. That's what the
Incarnation is all about. Jesus does
have friends in low places. That's what
got him in trouble. He hung out with
outcasts, with those who were considered drunkards, people who were blind or
deaf, people who had leprosy; sinners of every shape and color. Jesus does have friends in low places: us.
And it is in the very nature of who Jesus calls friends that the
glory of God is revealed. There is
comfort not just in the words of comfort that Isaiah spoke or the words of
comfort that Jesus spoke, or the attitude of tenderness that Christ had with
those he hung out with, but it was because the God became flesh and dwelt among
us. He walked this earth as a human
being in Christ. He understands all of
our pain and sorrow. He gets how
difficult life can be – how loss affects our souls. How painful it is to watch your child go
through cancer or a loved one (a wife, a husband, a sister or brother, a
parent) die. God stepped down and became
one of us.
In that stepping down, God revealed the power of comfort, the
power of tenderness, the power of peace. Advent and Christmas are about God's heart
being wrapped in swaddling clothes and the frailty of human flesh to show us
God's might. We find God's might
revealed not in earth-shaking thunder, not in mountains being leveled, but rather
in a baby born in Bethlehem and in arms outstretched in love. We see God's might as God seeks us out and
shows divine love. We see God's might in
God's power and desire to forgive.
One evening while putting her daughter to bed, a mother asked
what it was like to be four years old. The
little girl responded, "It's special." Mom smiled and asked her why. The little girl looked at her mother in
disbelief, doubting her mother's sincerity, then smiled and said, "Because
I know my mommy loves me." The
voice in the wilderness reminds us that God became one of us. God's might and glory are revealed in a humble
birth, and ultimately an empty tomb, signs of God's great love for us.
As comforting as all that is, John – the fire-breathing Baptizer
has a message for us, too. Part of the
wonder of the story of Jesus is how the ancient message of Isaiah is made new. When the people went streaming into the desert
to hear John, it wasn't for the novelty of the message that they went. They had heard the words before. Rather, they went for the power of old words
made new. John's presence and preaching
made the ancient message fresh.
John's message to the people of expectation was powerful
precisely because the words of it were so familiar. The wilderness, of all places, is where the
gospel of Jesus Christ begins. That new
message is rooted in the old message that God's delivering of his people always
begins is the wilderness.
God's speaking is heard in the wilderness. Remember how Moses heard the call of God when
God spoke to him in the wilderness through a burning bush?
God's saving is experienced in the wilderness. Remember how the children of Israel escaped
Pharaoh in the wilderness after crossing the Red Sea?
God's molding is accomplished in the wilderness. Remember how the saved people of Israel were
disciplined and shaped in the wilderness wandering about for 40 years before
reaching the Promised Land?
God’s comforting comes through the loneliness of the
wilderness. Remember how Isaiah
comforted the people after they were exiled to Babylon? How Christ, himself, was comforted by a host
of angels who came to him after his suffering in the wilderness for 40 days and
40 nights?
The wilderness is where the redemptive work of Israel took root
and flourished. Now through the message
of John, God begins to save all his children, this old venue is the new context
for salvation. And whether the
wilderness is literal or metaphorical, the truth remains: God's call can only
be heard through the voice of one crying in the wilderness. God's salvation can be experienced only in the
wilderness. We are formed, shaped,
molded and made new, only in the wilderness.
That is the power of the message that John spoke. An old one, made new. For there is the comforting voice of one who
cries out in the wilderness tenderly to the lost and the lonely, God is
here. Repent and Believe!
Offertory –
Doxology –
Prayer of Dedication –
In
gratitude for all that You have given us, we bring these gifts to You, O
Lord. May they be used in service to
others in Christ’s name. AMEN.
Closing
Hymn – How Great Our Joy Hymn #269 Brown
Benediction –
God is
bringing light to our darkness. We are
called to go into the world, confident in God’s loving presence, to serve
others in need. Go, bringing hope and
peace to this darkened world. Go in
God’s love. AMEN.
Postlude
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